Jonny Mansfield (vibes, compositions); Dominic Ingham (violin); Midori
Jaeger (cello); Will Sach (bass); James Maddren (drums).
The first time I heard this album I was reminded of those great Charlie Haden plus AN Other albums he did in the '90s with Pat Metheny, Kenny Barron and Keith Jarrett. A similar sense of space and the great wide open that characterised those albums is a feature of The Air In Front Of You.
Haden’s voice on those albums is suggested by the bass and cello pairing on this one. You will have noticed as well, from the dramatis personae above that this is an unconventional grouping of a quintet that has a drum and bass rhythm section but then violin and cello to support the vibes up front. Violin and cello are there as voices, as part of a spectrum. Mansfield has previously assembled an ‘Elftet’ for an album on Edition Records. An Elftet is, apparently, an eleven piece group, none of whose members are Elves.
Given the unusual
voicings on this album, what are we to make of it? Is it such as to inspire a
call on the hotline to the dreaded jazz police or can we find it a place
somewhere on the vast panoramic spectrum that is jazz today? Is it more
classical, more jazz? Is it third stream of a type that was once going to sweep
the world but didn’t? Is it chamber jazz or dinner jazz? Or all of them all at
once?
The (sort of) title
track, (Organise) The Air In Front Of You,
exemplifies this balance of elements. There are moments that suggest the
open spaces of Copeland’s Orchestral Americana as Mansfield interweaves the
various voices in the group. By contrast Waves,
which follows, works as a trio that puts the vibes to the fore. Flicker uses the strings (including the
bass) and either cymbals or muted mallets on the drums to create something
which should be funereal from that description but isn’t. It’s over 4 minutes
before Mansfield joins in on vibes to bring hope, if not optimism.
Etude
is
what it says it is, a brief vibraphone classical piece, melodies that run up
and down the moods. Closer, Periphery, is
really the first piece where the drums make an impact. Maddren plays densely
behind the flowing strings and, briefly, vigorously solos, without dropping
bombs as such, but it is a statement of intent without the force and energy you
would expect from a drum solo.
This has been an album
about a simpler vision of humanity, as if trying to bring us together through reflection
and recognition of our own frailty, the fact that we all breathe, that is we
organise the air in front of us. This may be widely inaccurate or it may be the
most perceptive thing I have ever written.
It has also been a very
frustrating album. I have given this one considerably more attention than any
other that I have reviewed. It has its charms but reveals them sparingly and
makes the listener work for any reward. Because of the nature of the group the
music doesn’t land with any impact and it doesn’t demand the listeners
attention but there are moments that catch you unawares and I have to concede
that there are times when it just sounds wonderful. Frustrating is, I think,
the mot juste.
The
Air In Front Of You is released on June 16 and is available to pre-order now on Jonny's website.
Jonny will also headline the closing day of the Newcastle Jazz Festival on August 20 when he’ll be playing in a trio with Andy Champion and Dave McKeague. Details of all the festival gigs and ticketing details are here, on the Newcastle Jazz Festival website. Dave Sayer
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